Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Gyro Pizza - Aldi: Collingswood, NJ

Gyro Pizza - Aldi: Collingswood, NJ

Firstly, Sorry for the lack of posts this weekend. I've been working on a pretty elaborate costume for my boyfriend's trip to FFXIV Fan Fest
in Las Vegas this weekend, and even though I started well over a month
ago, I still have a lot to do to finish it in time. If any of you know much
about the game, he's going as scholar class,
so one of the big projects has been making the hat/mortar board. I'll
post about the full costume and the process of making it on my art blog once I have the
time, but here's a shot of my little Jack Jack wearing the semi-finished hat (still needs the tassel and charms).

Okay, now on to the food! This was another new pizza from Aldi that caught my eye, so I ran out and bought one the day it was released. Let's see what a Gyro pizza tastes like!
This packaging is going for an in-your-face level of novelty Greek-ness. I'm not sure how those of you with Greek heritage feel about it, but it seems pretty over the top to me. We have the architecture, a sculpture, the packaging is blue like the Greek flag, and the typeface for this flavor is meant to mimic ancient Greek lettering. Admittedly, the in-your-face-ness kind of worked for me. This pizza stuck out like a sore thumb in the freezer section and that was how it caught my eye, it may be a bit obnoxious, but I think I like it.

The baking instructions were the same as any other frozen pizza, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees F, removed the packaging, and tossed the frozen puck of dough onto the middle rack for 15-20 minutes.

Once it was done, the crème fraîche sauce bubbled a bit and my kitchen smelled like feta, pizza dough, and pulled pork. The smell was really appealing, but I gotta say the finished pizza didn't look very appetizing. These toppings just aren't as vibrant in real life as they are on the box. Everything is pretty much a beige or off-white color except for the veggies and meat, but due to the marination, the olives and peppers have this kind of sickly muted color to them. It may not look all that great, but it sure does smell appealing.

I took a bite, and although it doesn't quite recreate the flavors of a gyro, you can definitely tell what they were aiming for. The crème fraîche sauce acts as a deliciously creamy base for this pizza, replacing the traditional tomato sauce, and it tastes similar to sour cream, but it's just a bit richer. On top of that we have the crumbled feta, which adds a bit of cheesy saltiness, the veggies, which are moist and add their normal flavorings, and a bit of the pulled pork. I felt like the pork was a bit dry, but it was still enjoyable. If a gyro and a flatbread pizza had a baby, this would be it.

This beats the pants off of Papa John's attempt at a Greek pizza, and for a no-frills store-brand to pull this off so well, when a huge American chain couldn't, says quite a lot about Aldi and their quality of products. (Although this is much smaller in size than anything Papa John's sells. This pizza serves two people max.) If you wanted this to taste more like an authentic Gyro, I suggest adding a bit of your own marinated and cooked meat and maybe a few other veggies. (Adding shredded lettuce to the finished pizza after it was cooked might be interesting.) My only complaint about this pizza is that it is dense, after eating two slices I was craving something light, but if you paired this with a salad and some ice water you should be just fine.

If you have the chance, give this a try! It may not taste exactly like a fresh Gyro, but it's really different from the other pizzas on the market, and it's affordable! Now, this is another one of those special buy items, so when it's gone, it's gone and we have no idea if it'll ever return, so get it while it lasts.